Annual statistics issued by the Justice Ministry in 2016 show the public prosecution received a total of 16,287 cases, varying between felonies, commercial misdemeanors, juvenile crimes, media crimes, cheque fraud, drugs and misuse of information technology. The publication by the statistics and research department at the Justice Ministry has the most accurate and important data as well as statistical indicators of the judiciary’s achievements.

“This publication is considered one of the most important achievements the statistics and research department is keen to issue every year. It contains comprehensive data that cover various activities of the court sectors, public prosecution and supporting departments compared with the five previous years and prediction for the next five years,” Director of the department Haifa Al-Shimmari said. “The department wants the largest possible group of researchers to benefit from the accurate information and data in this book,” she added.

Statistics show 15,241 cases were processed, distributed between 9,266 cases sent to the comprehensive court and 5,975 cases shelved, while 209 cases are still in courts. Felonies made up the largest share of cases with 6,507 cases received by the public prosecution, followed by 2,865 cybercrime cases. The least number of cases were journalism misdemeanors (251 cases) and finally audiovisual crimes (27 cases). Despite the rise in felonies, stats show that the number of these cases received in 2016 dropped notably compared to previous years by 11.99 percent, as the number of felonies reached 6,507, with 7,389 cases in 2015 and 8,792 in 2014